Review S19 EP26: A Full Strength Battle Surprise!

[Playerking]

XY119 - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

Please keep future events in spoiler tags. Thanks.

 

[Sakuraa]

Alright, Sawyer finally gets a win!

Cool, starting off with a random battle against a Scizor. Ok. I really liked how Bonnie started singing to Squishy when she thought something was wrong with him. That was sweet. Too bad it won't save his friend from being imprisoned by Lysandre Also nice to see what Team Flare is up to and that Officer Jenny was actually investigating the area where they were.

Now on to the battle. I'm happy Ash used Noivern in this battle rather than Pikachu like he's done with every other battle against Sawyer, but I still wish he would have used Talonflame instead of repeating Hawlucha for the 3rd time. Oh well. I'm glad Noivern beat the dual ugly sword, though I really didn't expect him too. I also realized that the sword's name is yet another I've been pronouncing wrong this whole time. I also didn't expect Noivern to have Dragon Claw here, and to be honest, I'd been hoping he wouldn't get dragon-type move, but I suppose its fine. I'm glad that Clawitzer took out both Noivern and Hawlucha. Sawyer's been long due for some wins against Ash. As usual, Sceptile vs. Greninja was the best battle. I was really impressed with how well Sceptile did evading and countering Greninja. I'm glad Sceptile finally beat Greninja. Hopefully Ash and Greninja get this transforming stuff solved soon.

But am I the only one who felt like "strong" was the word of the day. I feel like someone was saying something about someone being strong every few minutes."Sawyer's gotten really strong", "Greninja's just so strong" and of course Sawyer's "We've been training and getting stronger." And the at the end of the battle, Sawyer walks up to Ash and asks "Do you think I've gotten stronger?". You literally just beat him for the first time and you've been said yourself that you've been getting stronger throughout this whole episode; why are you asking Ash?

OMG, Bonnie was wearing Slurpuff. That is too cute. Perfect ending to the episode. I'd give it a 9/10.

 

[Aggron989]

Man, they've been giving us a lot of battles recently, and this one did not disappoint.

I like how they started off showing Ash doing a match against another Trainer; it shows that he's actually battling in the midst of all of the story stuff that's been happening.

Wow, Sawyer caught up fast - I really appreciate how often they mention how hard Sawyer must have trained, because they make a point of explaining how he caught up to Ash so quickly. In particular, watching his Clawitzer battle was great - I love that they brought the effects of Mega Launcher into it, and Sawyer's midair battling strategy with Clawitzer was really creative.

The battle between Greninja and Sceptile was fun to watch, as usual. I'm actually really happy that Sawyer won that match - it was a good wake up call for Ash to not be too overconfident, lest he lose to his rivals like he did this time. Personally, I think the reason Ash-Greninja didn't activate was that Ash was thinking too hard about the battle with Sawyer - but maybe that'll get explained later. It was certainly an interesting departure from what's been going on with Ash-Greninja, with them having reached the final form of it last episode, so here's a new twist to it. It'll be interesting to see where they take this.

Also, shoutout to Bonnie's Slurpuff snow outfit <3 it's always the little things that make me smile. I'm gonna say 10/10 for this, no complaints and great animation/battles.

 

[Ryu Taylor]

You know, what's with this show's allergy to "show, don't tell"? I'd love to have seen Sawyer get those badges instead of being told about it.

Also, is Team Flare's plan reminding anyone of The Legend of Korra?

The Squishy Song is getting really saccharine.

And one more thing: my goodness, was the dub music in this episode amazing or what? Still no reappearance of the Ash-Greninja transformation theme, but what we got today more than made up for it!

 

[Poke Trey]

You know, what's with this show's allergy to "show, don't tell"? I'd love to have seen Sawyer get those badges instead of being told about it.

Also, is Team Flare's plan reminding anyone of The Legend of Korra?

The Squishy Song is getting really saccharine.

And one more thing: my goodness, was the dub music in this episode amazing or what? Still no reappearance of the Ash-Greninja transformation theme, but what we got today more than made up for it!

I will say this was way better than last week's EP and it was because of TR mostly, but also that Sawyer really did give his "full strength" to Ash and worked at the end. Also, agreed with the music for this one because there was suspense, action, and most surprising to moi quiet scenes with officer Jenny. So absolutely 10/10 for me and ya might not realize it but Ryu I'm following you on Twitter and couldn't be any happier with my choice

 

[Gengarzilla]

Clawitzer in particular battled really well but I still maintain the impression that Sawyer lucked out here instead of outright beating Ash. Although he's gotten startlingly better since last time, nothing convinced me that he could have matched Ash-Greninja if it actually worked today.

At least this places Ash in the highly favorable underdog position for the league.

 

[Keshav]

Finally, A 3 on 3 battle after a long time and this one was amazing! I like that they gave Noivern a win. Sawyer has gotten really well now. The battle had ups and downs in it, Too bad Hawlucha got knocked out quickly, better luck next time xD.
10/10 from me.

 

[Muur]

Random battles are cool. Shame we didn't learn that guy's name.

Water Pokemon good for the Ice Gym... wh-what? Is Clemont high?

Some pretty good battles... but Duoblade shouldn't have really lost after those 427 Iron Defences

Heal Pulse doesn't heal yourself ffs!

Good for Sawyer

 

[Trainer Gabriel]

Water Pokemon good for the Ice Gym... wh-what? Is Clemont high?

Well, Water-type Pokémon do resist Ice-type moves...

Though, Clemont still should have also mentioned Talonflame's Fire attacks, too.

 

[Muur]

Well, Water-type Pokémon do resist Ice-type moves...

Though, Clemont still should have also mentioned Talonflame's Fire attacks, too.

He also has a Fighting type...

and Pikachu has a Steel move

 

[Pokefan19]

It did seem surprisingly forced that Ash lost this battle, but I guess Sawyer needed to be showcased as something more then just a step stool.

Spoiler

Reality is this victory was just so Ash didn't have to lose to Sawyer in the league, although that would have been interesting had it happened since it would have been the student surpassing the master. Afterall, Sawyer despite being a rookie managed to do a ton of things Ash never did when he was just starting his journey. Blasted underdog status

As for Water types for an Ice Gym... well, for the most part that would make sense, but not if the Ice Pokemon had Freeze Dry

 

[Harryghost]

I really like when Bonnie sings to Squishy. It shows the deep connection and trust Squishy has in Bonnie.

Team Flare is up to no good, and it was nice to see Officer Jenny investigating. I also adored the connection between Officer Jenny and Manectric. Sweet! . And, I know it does not strike in times of danger, but Skiploom should have thought about just flying out into the skies away from danger.

With those two things off my mind, let's talk about the gang now. Wow, Sawyer, you managed to obtain eight badges before Ash. GREAT!

Talking about the battle, Sawyer finally gets a win! And apart from Clawitzer using Heal Pulse to heal itself (Seriously, why writers!?), I enjoyed the entirety of it. I especially loved seeing Doublade using Night Slash (Oh! who am I kidding? I loved seeing Doublade for how much ever it was on-screen ), and Noivern using echo-location to track down its foes. The battle had brilliant battling by both the Trainers and their Pokémon.

I like how Ash fails to activate the Bond Phenomenon, and is still optimistic about it. That's Ash for you!

Spoiler

But, to be honest, I find depressed Ash way cuter!